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xbootmgr problem

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I have been investigating why Windows Sidebar seems to take so long to load after booting and I decided to run xbootmgr to trace the booting process.

I ran the following command:

xbootmgr –Trace Boot –TraceFlags DIAG+DRIVERS+POWER+REGISTRY

The system rebooted but it then went on a boot loop where it would reset before the login screen.

I run a dual boot OS so I decided to boot into XP and then edit the Windows 7 registry in order to remove the startup run command for xbootmgr. Still no joy, it just kept on rebooting before loading Windows successfully. I booted into XP again and removed some other xbootmgr entries from the Windows 7 software hive (backing up everything first), but still no joy. Safe Mode wouldn't boot either. Startup repair diagnosed autofailover but was unable to repair the issue.

In the end I decided to load last known good configuration which worked but I had forgotten that I disabled the feature many months ago so the last known good configuration included driver entries from programs that had long since been updated or removed. I then went about reinstalling some programs and manually repairing some registry entries which still referenced old drivers. It took me a number of hours but I eventually got things back to how they were before running xbootmgr.

I have since re-enabled last known good configuration backup just in case I need to use it again but I was wondering how else I could rectify this issue if it happens again. Surely, there are some registry keys which when removed would stop the trace from running so that the machine can boot as normal?

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looks like you run into the BSOD bug which is caused by the DRIVERS flag. The issue is fixed in Win8, based on my dumps, but MS doesn't port this back to Windows 7

After booting to Windows run

xbootmgr -remove

to disable all logging entries.

Thanks, but do you know exactly what changes in the registry the command makes. Not being able to boot into Windows makes it impossible to run the command so my only hope besides last known good configuration or system restore is to edit the registry hive from another OS in order to remove the entries manually.

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I haven't looked which reg key are modified. Use registry diff tools, make 2 snapshots (1 before and 1 after the command) and let the tool compare them.

May have to give that a go. Do you know if there is an xbootmgr switch that will delay the first shutdown by enough time to take the snapshot? Whilst it's counting down, I'll take the snapshop and when it's completed, I'll run the command to cancel the trace then take another snapshot.

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I would think you should take a snapshot before you enter the xbootmgr command in the first place. I would think that by the time of the countdown at least some, if not all, of the registry changes have already been made, but I could be wrong.

Cheers and Regards

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May have to give that a go. Do you know if there is an xbootmgr switch that will delay the first shutdown by enough time to take the snapshot? Whilst it's counting down, I'll take the snapshop and when it's completed, I'll run the command to cancel the trace then take another snapshot.